immunity. then there s also we re waiting for a ruling in the civil fraud trial against trump in new york. his sons and trump organization also on the hook there. and this comes after trump was ordered to pay e. jean carroll $83 million after her defamation suit last month. can you take us inside trump s mind right now? what must he be thinking? i mean, we know he s a man who embraces grievance, but this is a lot. it s a lot but he is also an expert conpartmentalizer in a way we ve seen very few people in the political realm be. so he looks at these a couple of different ways. the carroll verdict has infuriated him. we know it s a huge amount of money. we know it s a huge amount of money he doesn t want to pay and he ll have to pay some even as he s appealing it. the colorado ballot case, his team actually feels pretty good about its chances at the supreme court. and they see that as helping them politically, which is why you saw something like that filing today. so, there
what a story to start our day. thanks, andy. thanks for joining us. i m john avlon. cnn this morning starts right now. good morning, everyone. so glad you re with us. i m poppy harlow with phil mattingly in new york. there s a lot going on on this monday, december 18th. happening right now defense secretary lloyd austin is back in israel, his visit part of the international pressure campaign for israel to change its tactics in gaza and restart the truce talks, pressure growing after the killing of three hostages by soldiers. republican front runner donald trump using darker more extreme rhetoric in that final sprint, the white house slamming trump for what it calls fascist rhetoric. right now storms gusting up the east coast and the travel delays it could cause this holiday week. cnn this morning starts right now. we begin with defense secretary lloyd austin meeting right now with israel s defense min minister. pressure is growing on israel to change its tactics
coast time. he what has to overcome low approval ratings and looking into his son. his republican critics have taken notice already. the president really focused on the past more and some of the divisions. i would hope and would think he would be talking about the economy, talking about america s position in the world, and strength. so i was a little disappointed in that. it shows the contrast. it sounds like he is heading forward now on, you know, dividing our country in a way that i think will have a lasting impact that will be very negative. dana: will voters give biden four more years to finish the job? reaction. first david spunt live at the justice department for the latest on the hunter biden probe. what s going on there, david? federal prosecutors continue to weigh potential misdemeanor and felony charges against hunter biden. no decisions have been made that we know of yet. this is an investigation going on for almost half a decade over a variety issues inclu
accountable for the deaths, terrorist, cartel killers crossing into the united states and those unimaginable numbers of humanity flowing in illegally. while policies under biden defy reality. democrats taking the opportunity to attack the majority party again and again and again. at every turn this extreme republican majority fails to offer genuine solutions and resorts to political theater. the republican majority seems interested only in showboating. unfortunately this hearing is nothing more than a distraction. republicans resort to political stunts at the border and theatrical hearings lairing this one. republicans in congress seem intent on demonizing migrant families. an ongoing and blatant attempt to use fear tactics to scare us into turning immigrants away. we have a broken immigration system because republicans want us to. so they can hold these hearings to mask the fact that they have no affirmative agenda that actually helps people. harris: that was p
fight for the speakers dpafbl house speaker kevin mccarthy put that hard fought victory to work and announced a piece of legislation that is at the heart of the republican platform. standing in front of the portrait of george washington the speaker described rights. so many parents were attacked, call terrorists because they simply wanted to go to a school board meeting to be heard on what s going on. one thing going on in this country is education is a great equalizer and we want parents to be empowered, and that s what we re doing today, that you have a say in your kids education, not government, and not telling you what to do. the irony here is almost too obvious to explain. here s a bill introduced by the speaker of the house changing the way parents children are taught in school. mccarthy is literally the government telling them what to do, and he s not alone. in the past several months there s been a wave of republican led bills attacking schools and attacking educa